TS 155 

.L3 

8th 

Copy 1 






The greatest thrill that can come 
to any man is the thrill of suc¬ 
cessful accomplishment. 


CHARLES M. SCHWAB 











LaSalle Extension University 

4046-4058 SOUTH MICHIGAN AVENUE - CHICAGO 


Department of 
Modern Foremanship 


To the Students of 
Modern Foremanship: 

Do you remember the day the big "boss" called you in and told you that one 
of the departments had been falling down in production and that he had de¬ 
cided to give you a chance? Do you remember his last words? No doubt they 
were something like this: "Here is your opportunity, but I expect you to 
GET THE WORK OUT." 

In the course of your talk, he brought out some of the personal qualities 
which you charted in the first manual. He had noticed these in you when 
looking for a foreman, but whether you possess one quality—the ability to 
get the work out—can be determined only by trying you on the job. 

But this ability may be acquired or increased by training, in just the same 
way that your knowledge of leadership, job analysis, and the study of your 
own job, has grown thru your work with previous manuals. To enable you to 
increase your ability to get th e wor kout, and to prepare you so that you will 
not fail when the test comes, is the purpose of this manual. 

This eighth work manual on "Getting the Work Out" not only forewarns you of 
the troubles and obstacles which might interfere with production, but it 
also shows the four big steps which each job must follow if it is to get thru 
the shop when wanted. Getting the work out is an important basis upon which 
the foreman is advanced in position and responsibility. 

Probably no factory is satisfied with its present production. That you are 
taking this course indicates that you are anxious to improve your ability 
to accomplish things. Solving the problem in this manual will suggest a 
method of analyzing the problems you meet so that you can better handle 
those which come up in connection with your job. 

If at any time you meet with any difficulties either in connection with the 
manual, the problem, or your job, be sure to drop me a line and tell me. 

I shall be glad to help you at any time. 

The rewards come to those who get the work out—there is a reward also for 
the completion of this course, to be paid to you in returns from increased 
ability. 


Sincerely, 



HD.E 


Hugo Diemer, Director 



-'fi' 15 $ 





* 





















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TS I 

,L3 

? tA- 

LaSalle Extension University 

DEPARTMENT OF MODERN FOREMANSHIP 
HUGO DIEMER, Director 

CHICAGO 


Matriculation No._ Date_192. 

Name___ 

Address (complete)_ 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP PROBLEM NO. 8 


If everything ran smoothly in the shop, all that you would have to 
do after you got it going well would be to sit back and watch it go. 
But you know that shops do not run that way. Troubles are constantly 
coming up; difficulties are continually interfering with the sched¬ 
ules. Your success is largely dependent upon your ability to over¬ 
come these difficulties. 

Some foremen are more successful than others in overcoming these 
difficulties. This fact is generally due to their having a better 
grasp of the problems they meet and a knowledge of how to solve 
them. To assist you in analyzing the problems you meet, try solving 
the following typical examples of difficulties, which you might face 
at any time in any shop. 

Johnson took over the foremanship in a shop where conditions were 
described to him as being "in an awful mess." For months nothing 
had been shipped when promised. Delivery dates were, on some orders, 
over a month behind. On others, parts did not fit when finished and 
so had to be scrapped and new ones manufactured. There seemed to be 
troubles ahead of him everywhere. 

Johnson was to begin work Monday morning. Saturday afternoon, after 
the shop had closed, he went thru the department with the sub¬ 
foreman, who was familiar with what was going on in the shop and who 
was going to remain as his assistant. Johnson took a pencil and paper 
and jotted down the troubles as he came to them. Here are some of 
those he found. 

The sub-foreman could tell him about the "mess" they were in, but 
was not able to analyze the troubles, or to find the cause and sug¬ 
gest a remedy. From the notes taken from what Johnson saw, and details 
brought out by skillful questioning of his assistant, he found the 
difficulties which affected the getting out of the work. These are 
described on the following pages. 

Tell what caused the tie-up in production in each case and then 
what you would do if you were in Johnson's place. Read the whole 
problem over before beginning to put down your suggestions. 









First, Johnson found one machine with a big pile of unfinished work. 
Questioning brought out the fact that practically all parts man¬ 
ufactured required at least one operation on one or the other of 
the two machines of this kind in the shop. The other machine was par¬ 
tially dismantled. The regular operator of the idle machine was sick, 
the assistant said, and a green man, who had been placed in charge 
without any instructions from the foreman, had stripped some teeth 
out of a gear. As there was nobody to run the machine, they "had not 
taken the trouble to fix it up." They had preferred to work the one 
man overtime, but he-could not keep up. Johnson also found that 
several of the men and machines working on the parts were idle part 
of the time later. The plan of giving the one operator a helper in the 
emergency had not been tried out. 

What would you do 

—with the extra machine? 

—about getting an operator for it? 

What would help you in deciding whether it would increase the output 
to give the man a helper, and 

What provisions would you take to prevent this kind of tie-up in the 
future? 



Second, A large load of machine parts in a truck marked "scrap” 
next drew Johnson's attention. The sub-foreman said that these had 
been machined to a wrong dimension in the second of five operations 
and had to be scrapped. The assembly department was "hollering" for 
some more of these parts, but he didn't "see how they could get them 
out with all the other work behind as it was." A few questions brought 
out the fact that the operator who spoiled the parts had checked his 
own set-up. "We didn't lose anything," said the sub-foreman, "be¬ 
cause the operator was on piece work and did not receive his piece 
rates on the rejected pieces." 

What would you do? 

\ 

Why is it necessary to get new parts out as quickly as possible for 
the assembly department? 

What would you do to prevent similar errors' occurring in the future? 

What did the company lose even tho it saved the piece-work cost on 
one operation? 



Third, Johnson worked out a 
chart to check up the results 
and causes of his shop troubles. 
For your convenience, this 
chart is reproduced here. Check 
on this the results which might 
come from any of the causes 
shown. For example, "No power” 
would result in stoppage of 
work. Some of the causes ob¬ 
viously might have more than 
one result. In such a case, 
check all the results which 
might happen. 


CAUSES 

RESULTS 

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GETTING THE WORK OUT 


THE EIGHTH WORK MANUAL 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


AND 


PRODUCTION METHODS 


Being the Expression of Practical Foremen 

Assembled, Organized, and Edited by 

HUGO DIEMER, MEYER BLOOMFIELD, DANIEL BLOOMFIELD 
AND E. F. DAHM 

In Cooperation with Others 


LASALLE EXTENSION UNIVERSITY 


CHICAGO 


OA-8 



. L3 


Copyright, 1921 
All Rights Reserved 

LA SALLE EXTENSION UNIVERSITY 



Stf 26 1921 

© Cl A626415 

Tvo. 


Perhaps you have admired some other foreman be¬ 
cause of the way he has been able to forge ahead in 
the shop. His department is always running smooth¬ 
ly; nothing seems to interrupt production; his prom¬ 
ise to have a job finished at a certain time can be re¬ 
lied on; the management and the workers have con¬ 
fidence in him because he gets the work out; and he is 
reported to be the best-paid foreman in the shop. 

No doubt you too have wished for a greater measure 
of the self-confidence and the other factors which go 
with the ability to get the work out. 

In this manual, over 5,000 foremen have “let you in” 
on their “secrets” for getting the work out. And like 
many other confidences, they are not real secrets, but 
are principles which can be learned and which when 
put into pactice, simplify the production problems you 
are called upon to face. 

The experiences of these 5,000 foremen show that there 
are only four steps to any job. If these are performed 
properly and in the proper order, and if the personal 
production qualities described in previous manuals are 
developed, you, too, will be able to get the work out 
as promised and win the confidence of those with 
whom you work. 


1 


THE MODERN FOREMANSHIP 
COUNCIL 

There are production managers, practicing foremen, 
executive officers, labor managers, and educators on 
this Foremanship Council. 

Tho from different walks of life, they have one strong 
tie binding them together—that is, their experience 
with and interest in the work of Modern Foremen. 

The Council reviews the course and lessons and serves 
in an advisory capacity. It brings to bear on the plan¬ 
ning, organization, presentation, and service of the 
Modern Foremanship and Production Methods Course 
the judgment of experts from all important points of 
view. In many minds there is increased wisdom and 
safety of judgment. 


2 


THE MODERN FOREMANSHIP COUNCIL 


Leroy Tabor, Tabor Manufacturing Company, Philadelphia, 
Pa. 

George R. Townsend, Manager, International Steel and Ord¬ 
nance Company, Lowell, Mass. 

Richard A. Feiss, Vice President, Joseph & Feiss Company; 
Manager, Clothcraft Shops, Cleveland, Ohio 

J. L. Ackerson, Vice President, Merchant Shipbuilding Cor¬ 
poration, Philadelphia, Pa. 

J. M. Carmody, Production Manager, H. B. Black Company, 
Cleveland, Ohio 

F. C. Shafer, Factory Manager, Penberthy Injector Company, 
Detroit, Mich. 

Matthew Porosky, Chairman, Factory Management Commit¬ 
tee, Holzer Cabot Company, Boston, Mass. 

S. Babcock, General Foreman, Power Plant, Westinghouse 
Electric and Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa. 

Boris Emmet, Labor Manager, Henry Sonnebom & Com¬ 
pany, Inc., Baltimore, Md. 

Allen B. Crow, Secretary, Society of Industrial Engineers, 
Detroit, Mich. 

B. E. Mallary, Foremanship Training, Board of Education, 
Cleveland, Ohio 

William Bethke, Educational Director, LaSalle Extension 
University 

E. F. Dahm, Assistant Educational Director, LaSalle Exten¬ 
sion University 

Meyer Bloomfield, Editor-in-Chief, Modem Foremanship and 
Production Methods Course; of Bloomfield & Bloomfield, 
Boston 

Daniel Bloomfield, Associate Editor, Modem Foremanship 
and Production Methods Course; of Bloomfield & Bloom¬ 
field, Boston 

Hugo Diemer, Director, Modem Foremanship and Produc¬ 
tion Methods Course 


3 


THE FIFTEEN WORK MANUALS 


of the Course in 

MODERN FOREMANSHIP 
and 

PRODUCTION METHODS 


I. The Foreman and His Job 

II. The Working Force 

III. Leadership 

IV. The Foreman and Training 

V. The Foreman and Job Analysis 

VI. The Flow of Work 

VII. A Good Place to Work 

VIII. Getting the Work Out 

IX. The Foreman as Stockkeeper 

X. Cost Control in the Shop 

XI. Industrial Organization 

XII. What Is Production and Why? 

XIII. Wages and Incentives 

XIV. The Foreman and the Law 

XV. The Foreman and Industrial Service 


4 



CONTENTS OF THIS MANUAL 

ON 

GETTING THE WORK OUT 

The “secret” of producing 

Troubles that the foreman must overcome 

Planning the job 
Difficulties to anticipate 
Planning of operations 
Planning of materials 
Tool list 

Preparing the job 
Getting the working force ready 
Looking up tools and equipment 
Seeing that the work is ready 

Starting the job 
Scheduling 
Dispatching 

Doing the job 
Overcoming interferences 
Eliminating causes of trouble by 
—keeping to schedule 
—inspecting the work 
—locating the difficulties 
—applying the remedy 
Establishing a routine 
Maintaining records of 
—production 
—progress 

Who makes the shop “go”? 















































/ 




GETTING THE WORK OUT 


“I’m sorry for Brockway,” mused the super¬ 
intendent. “He surely wants to make good in 
the foremanship of that job. He’s a fine boy, 
Brock way is, quite a reader and a student. 
But when it comes to getting the work out, 
he’s fallen down. Well, I’ll just have to take 
him off and find a man for the press shop who 
can deliver the goods.” 

Therefore, a few days later Brockway was re¬ 
moved from the foremanship of the shop, and 
Sorensen, a quiet, alert man of about forty, 
was put in his place. 

Brockway felt deeply the reproach of his re¬ 
moval, and in the comparative quiet of the 
tool-making department, to which he had 
been transferred, he wondered just how he 
had failed, and he half expected to hear any 
day that Sorensen also was finding it impos¬ 
sible to manage the unruly department. 

But weeks went by, and Sorensen had evi¬ 
dently succeeded. Then one day the super¬ 
intendent summoned Brockway into his of¬ 
fice. 


8 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


“Will,” said the old superintendent kindly, 
“you probably haven’t forgotten the trouble 
you had in the press shop. Sorensen was put 
in your place and he has made good. Now 
we are still hard up for good foremen; and 
while you failed in this case, yet I believe that 
you have the makings of a good foreman in 
you. What I want you to do is to go to school 
to Sorensen. He is a good scout and will show 
you how he does it. And when you’ve learned 
your lesson, we’ve got a department here in 
the plant that I’ll give you charge of. I am 
banking on you to make good, and I am certain 
that I shall not be disappointed.” 

“I’m only too glad to jump at the chance, Mr. 
Hathaway,” Brockway replied. “I’m young 
yet, and I’ve got considerable to learn. Mr. 
Sorensen’s success with his shop after I fell 
down trying to run it, shows that he can teach 
me something. I don’t care how I learn it. 
The one thing that counts with me is my abil¬ 
ity to make good.” 

V 

So Brockway went back into his old depart¬ 
ment, but this time under Sorensen. In a few 
weeks Sorensen had taught him his secret, 
and Brockway stepped out to take charge of 
another department, which he managed suc¬ 
cessfully from the first day he was in charge. 



GETTING THE WORK OUT 


9 


The Secret of Getting the Work Out 

Veteran foremen who read these pages do 
not need to be told the secret that Brockway 
learned from Sorensen. But men new at fore- 
manship and those who are aspiring to be¬ 
come foremen, will do well to study this se¬ 
cret over and over again, for on it hinges the 
success of every foreman who makes good. 

Briefly the secret is this: In order to get the 
work thru your department, it is not enough 
that you KNOW about shop practice and 
foremanship; you must USE what you know 
AT THE TIME when the job demands it. 

The Character of the Successful Foreman 

The successful foreman has a whole lot of 
“drive” in his make-up. This does not mean 
that he has to bully his men, but it means that 
he won’t let the work stand still. It must go 
thru, and he sees to it that it does go thru. 

Every job “wants what it wants when it 
wants it.” It is this “on time” element that 
counts big in industry, and the foreman who 
can bring the job thru on scheduled time is 
the man who gets and holds the successful 
foremanship positions in the present-day in¬ 
dustrial world. 



10 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


The “Use” Character of This Manual 

This manual proposes to go into detail in ex¬ 
plaining the secret that caused Sorensen’s 
success and enabled Brockway later to handle 
a foreman’s job well—the secret of how to get 
the work out. 

Proficient foremen will find in this book many 
things that they know already; therefore for 
them the manual will be largely an aid in 
brushing up their memories and in placing 
their experience in handy, usable form. 

Others will find that this is the “do it” manual 
of the series. It is not so much a book to be 
read and reflected on as it is a tool to be taken 
on the job with you, and definitely employed 
in putting the job thru. 

Why the Foreman Is Needed on the Job 

When Sorensen took charge of that shop, he 
found a going concern. Somebody had already 
planned it, and previous foremen had been 
putting work thru. It was Sorensen’s busi¬ 
ness to see to it that the work went thru as 
planned. 

Now if that department had been like some 
wonderful clock, which could be w 7 ound up 
once a year and made to run smoothly till the 



GETTING THE WORK OUT 


11 


next year’s winding, then Sorensen, as fore¬ 
man, would not have been needed. But a de¬ 
partment in an industry is not at all like a 
good clock. If it is not constantly watched and 
trouble prepared against, it may get out of 
order every hour or so. 

The Foreman Must Prevent and Overcome Trouble 

Four kinds of trouble as shown below may 
happen to work as it goes thru a foreman’s 
department: 

1. Slow production 

2. Work completely held up 

3. Need of reworking operations to rectify 
mistakes 

4. Necessity of scrapping the work 

If the foreman can prevent any of these trou¬ 
bles from occurring, or if, when one of these 
troubles does occur, he can straighten mat¬ 
ters out quickly, he is a success as a foreman. 
If he cannot prevent these troubles, or can¬ 
not remedy them quickly when they do occur, 
to that extent he is unsuccessful. 

What the Foreman Should Do to Overcome Trouble 

The following steps illustrate the kinds of 
work that go into every job. The foreman 




12 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


r 


who keeps in his mind a picture of what 
makes up every job, and who realizes that 
trouble may happen at any step, will be all 
the more likely to forestall it. Nothing pre¬ 
vents trouble more than systematic prepara¬ 
tion. 

The Four Steps of Every Job 

Step 1. The job must be planned. 

Step 2. The job must be prepared for. 

Step 3. The job must be scheduled and dis¬ 
patched. 

Step 4. The job must be done and in¬ 
spected. 

Here, then, we are “getting down to cases.” 
Successfully getting the work out means that 
the foreman must anticipate and prevent 
trouble in planning the job, in preparing for 
it, in scheduling and dispatching it, and in ac¬ 
tually doing and inspecting it. And if, in spite 
of his watchfulness, trouble does develop in 
connection with any of these steps, then good 
foremanship demands that the foreman find 
the trouble at once, rectify it so that the work 
can go on according to schedule, and take the 
necessary steps to prevent that trouble from 
occurring again. 



GETTING THE WORK OUT 


13 


Preventing Trouble in Connection with Planning 

the Job 

Even in organizations where the works man¬ 
ager, the superintendent, or a planning de¬ 
partment plans the work which goes thru a 
foreman’s shop, the foreman is not relieved 
from the need of giving thought to planning. 
On the contrary, every foreman has two very 
definite planning duties to perform. 

In the first place, he must clearly understand 
the plans that have been sent him. He 
must have a clear picture of the results that 
the superintendent or the planning depart¬ 
ment has in mind for that job. 

In the second place, he must have a definite 
plan or scheme as to just how he will get the 
results desired. 

The foreman who lives up to these two plan¬ 
ning duties has taken the first step, in pre¬ 
venting trouble from arising in connection 
with the work going thru his department. 
Therefore it will pay us to consider each of 
these duties a little more in detail. 

How the Foreman Comes to Understand the Plans 

As a rule, the foreman receives a very clear 
and definite description as to what work his 



14 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


department is to perform on a job. This de¬ 
scription may be in the form of blue prints, 
specifications, etc., or it may be less detailed. 
It may be that you are expected to supply 
some of the missing details. 



Fig. 1.—“Don’t say it, put it in writing,” is a good slogan in factory 
management. When the description of what is to be done on every job is 
reduced to “black and white” as in the above, there is little or no chance 

of working in the dark. 


Now, whether the plans are given you largely 
in detail, or whether you furnish much of the 
detail yourself, there are three chances for 






































GETTING THE WORK OUT 


15 


trouble to arise in connection with your get¬ 
ting your plans for the work. 

In the first place, the plans may be incorrect, 
and if you attempt to follow them out, either 
you may find the work impossible to do or you 
may put thru work that cannot be used, in 
which case your company suffers a loss. There 
may be several reasons for errors in blue 
prints and specifications—errors of drawing, 
as where a draftsman makes an incorrect 
drawing based on a correct drawing of a part 
somewhat similar; errors of typing, as where 
the copy is blurred and hard to read; errors 
of writing, as where an order for 10,000 is 
copied as for 100,000, or where a tolerance of 
.005 is given as of .0005; errors of judgment, 
as where, for instance, in work in a buffing 
shop, a high finish is called for on a product 
which cannot take it, owing to the quality of 
the material of which it is made. 

The second cause of trouble in connection 
with your getting your plans for your work 
may be the fact that the plans or directions 
are inadequate. Some important dimension 
may be omitted from the blue print, or some 
necessary operation may be left entirely out 
of the specification. 



16 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


In one case the specifications that came into a 
forge shop failed to specify the dies, and the 
foreman chose dies having too deep an im¬ 
pression. The result was that the forgings 
were oversize, and made extra work neces¬ 
sary for the machining shops to machine 
them to size. 

In many cases the foreman would not be jus¬ 
tified in attempting to supply the missing in¬ 
formation himself. Go to the planning de¬ 
partment for further necessary details. 

The third chance for trouble in connection 
with the plans you receive may lie in the fact 
that you do not follow these plans. While it 
is true that errors may occur in the planning 
department’s specifications, it is equally true 
that the foreman’s department may make er¬ 
rors in failing to follow the specifications. It 
may be possible to misunderstand or to over¬ 
look perfectly clear directions; for instance, a 
worker may have difficulty in reading blue 
prints. 

Laying Out a Plan for Doing the Work 

You will recall that on page 13 it was stated 
that the foreman has two duties in connec¬ 
tion with the plans for his work; he must 
know what to make and how to make it. The 




GETTING THE WORK OUT 


17 


“what” information usually comes to him in 
the form of a blue print or other specification. 
But how does he get the “how” information? 

In plants where planning departments have 
been organized to take over much of the plan- 



Fig- 2.—Very often it is necessary to give more detailed instructions than 
can be supplied by Fig. 1. In that case, an instruction card such as the 
one shown above answers the purposes quite satisfactorily. Such instruc¬ 
tions leave nothing to the worker’s imagination. 

ning function, the foreman, at the time he re¬ 
ceives his blue prints or specifications of the 
work to be done, also receives a plan of work, 
which probably consists of the following: 

1. A list of the operations to be performed on 
the job. This may be called the general plan, 
or the route sheet, or the operation list. It de¬ 
scribes primarily what operations, on what 
































18 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


machines, are necessary to do the job. With 
it may also go detailed instruction that tells 
the operators just how to do each operation 
most effectively, with standard time allow¬ 
ances. These detailed instructions are gener¬ 
ally called instruction cards. 

2. A list of the materials needed on the job. 
This is called the bill of material. 

3. A list of the tools needed on the job. 


OPERATION LIST 


Description of Part. Order No.. 

...Sym. of Part Date.„. 


Op. No. 

Operation 

Shop 

Mach. 

Equipment 

Treatment 

Finish 

Remarks 


























Fig. 3.—An operation list such as this one, is part of the instructions 
turned over to the foreman by the planning department. Where there is 
no planning department, the making out of the list rests largely with the 
superintendent or the foremen. 


We have already noticed that in a plan of 
what the job is, trouble may arise in three 
ways—incorrect plans, incomplete plans, and 
plans not followed. In like manner, in the 
matter of how the job is to be performed, the 
same three troubles may arise — incorrect 





















GETTING THE WORK OUT 


19 


scheme, incomplete scheme, and scheme not 
followed. To prevent such trouble from aris¬ 
ing, the foreman has to go over his plan of 
work (route sheet, operation list, instruction 


BILL o: 

For._. 

Description of Article. .. 

F M A 

Symb 

.TERIAL 

.Shop 

... Order No.. 

ol Date. 



Name 
of Part 

Part 

Sym. 

Material 

Mat’l 

Sym. 

Quan¬ 

tity 

Pur¬ 

chase 

or 

Stores 

Purchase 

Order 

Issued 

Date 

Rec’d 

Date 

Issued 





























Pig. 4.—A material list enumerates all the material necessary on every job 
and is issued to the foreman before the job goes into work. Job analysis 
is the big management help which makes it possible to provide this 

advance information. 

card, bill of material, and tool list) to be sure 
that it is correct and complete, and then has 
to see to it that the workers follow out the in¬ 
structions there given. 

Where planning departments are not devel¬ 
oped to furnish this information, the foreman 
must rely upon himself and the men under 
him. Modern tendencies are strongly toward 
the specialized planning, but the older system 
is still widely used. 























20 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


So the first step in getting out the work is to 
know what the job is and exactly how it is to 
be done. The foreman's job here largely is to 
see that these two steps are clearly outlined. 
Then comes the first active work of the shop, 
in getting ready everything necessary with 
which to do the work. 


LIST OF SPECIAL TOOLS 

For.Shop 

Description of Article. Order No. 

...Sym. of Art. Date.... 

Description 
of Tool 

Tool 

Sym. 

Order 

From 

Number 

Needed 

Part 

Sym. 

Part 

Operation 

Op. No. 


























Fig. 5.—Without a tool list, the advance information about a job would be 
incomplete. Such a test is usually made out on a form like this one and 
goes a long ways toward giving the worker as well as the foreman the right 

slant on the job. 

Make Sure the Shop Is Ready to Do the Work 

The next thing to do after finding out what 
the job is and how it is to be done, is to get 
everything in readiness to do the work. The 
forge shop with detailed plans and instructions 
can do no work until the dies are available. The 
power loom of the weaver “down for repairs” 
often holds up work. Poor equipment means 





















GETTING THE WORK OUT 


21 


poor work. Untrained men mean waste time 
and spoiled work. Little driblets of work, 
broken lots, etc., cause easily avoidable delays. 
Each foreman has his own individual prob¬ 
lems of preparation, but in any line of indus¬ 
try the matter of preparation may be consid¬ 
ered under these four headings: 



Fig. 6.—No matter whether a foreman works in a large plant or in a small 
shop or factory, and irrespective of the product he is working on, he must 
meet his advance preparation problems by systematically organizing these 

four factors. 

When it is practicable, it is the best plan be¬ 
fore any work is done to get together in the 
shop all the equipment and all the material 
that go to make up the finished job. Then the 
chance of anything’s going wrong is at a min¬ 
imum. But often this cannot be done. In that 
case the foreman must do his best to see that 
everything will be at hand when it is needed. 
Since this means dependence on someone else, 
who may make a slip, and since you do not 
know far in advance exactly when you are go¬ 
ing to do any job, the only safe scheme ob¬ 
viously is, before starting, to get hold of 
everything in reason that you will require. 










22 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


Prepare Your Men 
Any job needs men to do it. 

So good foremanship demands that a foreman 
have a working force that is sufficient in num¬ 
bers, capable, willing to work, and able to 
work. 

When a big job comes along, more help may 
be required. Sometimes this help can be ob¬ 
tained from other shops where work is slack. 
Sometimes new men must be hired. In either 
case, the good foreman makes sure that men 
are obtained in time and are fitted to the work. 

But the preparation of men is a bigger prop¬ 
osition than just this one job. It goes away 
back thru the history of the shop. The fore¬ 
man himself, as well as his men, must be ca¬ 
pable, trained, and loyal. 

The third manual, “Leadership,” and the 
fourth manual, “The Foreman and Training,” 
contain many valuable suggestions for pre¬ 
paring men for jobs, and we suggest that you 
glance thru them again at this time. 

How to Prepare Machines 

Just as getting men ready is bigger than any 
one job, so also is the preparation of the ma- 



GETTING THE WORK OUT 


23 


chines, which is primarily a question of main¬ 
tenance and repairs. The location of machines 
is important but is ordinarily a factor not 
easily changed, and often not under the con¬ 
trol of the shop. 

The foreman who has his machines repaired 
as soon as possible after breakdowns, avoids 
the delays that always come up if machines 
are repaired only when there is work for 
them. It pays to keep the engines, motors, 
shafting, and belting in equally good shape. 

A glass factory found this to be true. The man¬ 
agement refused to make some slight necessary 
repairs to the furnaces. The lining burned out. 
Results — furnaces were down when needed, 
and high expense was incurred for the repairs 
when finally made. 

A certain railroad allowed its rolling stock to 
get into bad shape. When a boom started, it 
fell down badly, due solely to this cause. 

Another case occurred in a machine shop. The 
gear cutter was allowed to wait for several 
months for some minor repairs. A rush job 
came thru. It was held up several days while 
the repairs were being made. 

Periodic Inspection of Equipment 

Many old foremen strongly advocate weekly 
inspections of all machinery. By this inspec- 



24 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


tion they make sure not only that all ma¬ 
chines are in good repair (or are being put in 
shape), but also that all are well cleaned and 


MAKE PERIODIC INSPECTION 



Check up: 

Installation of safety devices needed 
Building repairs needed 
Condition of floor (whether clut¬ 


tered up with work or tools) 


Fig. 7.—Haphazard or occasional inspections mean that every now and 
then work gets into “an awful mess” and half the force must mark time 
while the other half retraces its steps. Definite and periodic inspections 
are the only kind that are really worth while. 


oiled. The painting of machines is noted at 
the same time. 

In this connection it is well to see to the in¬ 
stallation and maintenance of safety devices. 
Like the machine itself the safety devices 
may thru accident or design fail to work. 
Sooner or later someone suffers, as happens 
so frequently to metal press operators who 
remove the guards to speed up the work. 




GETTING THE WORK OUT 


25 


Successful foremen do not stop with seeing 
that the machines and power equipment are 
in good order, but see to it that the rest of the 


TOOL TICKET 

Symbol of tool wanted.. 

Description of tool wanted.™. 

Quantity wanted.... 


Worker’s Numbers 


Month 


Day Year 


Signed by Man Securing Tool 


NOTE—Only one kind of tool can be issued on this card. 


Fig. 8.—It never pays to wait until the last minute before getting all the 
tools on hand for every job. It is equally bad practice to have the worker 
select his own tools. A tool ticket of which the one above is typical 

should always be issued. 


shop is up to the same standard. This applies 
not only to building repairs but to the work 
floor. One old foreman has said: 


“I never allow my floor to get cluttered up 
with work or tools. It hampers the flow of 
work and the operation of the machines as 
well as endangering the safety of my men. A 
clear floor is a good sign of efficiency.” 

















26 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


The Preparation of Tools and Equipment 

In many shops, the foreman is given a tool 
list showing the special tools for his job. 
These he gets into his shop at once. It does 
not pay to wait until the last minute and have 
work held up because some special tool or fix¬ 
ture or supplies are being used on some other 
job or happen to be defective. 

But equipment means a lot more than getting 
in special tools or supplies. How about the 
usual shop equipment? Perhaps the quan¬ 
tity on hand is too small. Some tools may need 
resharpening. Jigs and fixtures may need a 
thoro overhauling. Tool-room usage will be 
discussed further in the ninth manual, “The 
Foreman as Stockkeeper.” 

How to Get the Work Itself Ready 

Preparation of the materials consists in get¬ 
ting into the shop the necessary raw mate¬ 
rials and partly finished product in such quan¬ 
tity and condition that it can be processed in 
full accordance with the plans as laid out. The 
quicker the work is gotten into the shop, the 
better. All work should be carefully looked 
over and counted (if possible) as soon as it 
arrives. Old shop men seldom take the word 
of another shop or of the storekeeper that the 



GETTING THE WORK OUT 


27 


work sent in is in proper condition. It’s a 
risky policy. There is no need here of in¬ 
stances to illustrate this. 

You need not get all the material into the 
shop to start work. Very often it is neither 
possible nor advisable. But you should not 
start to work without sufficient work to make 
it worth while, and you must do your best to 
see that more work is ready when needed. 
Otherwise, in the long run, you will waste 
both time and money. 



Fig. 9.—Two of the four steps necessary in getting the work out are graph¬ 
ically presented in the above chart. Fix them firmly in your mind before 
taking up the remaining steps. They are part of every job you undertake. 


Let Us Stop and Summarize 

On page 12 we mention the four main steps in 
performing a job—planning, preparing, start¬ 
ing (scheduling and dispatching), and doing 
(including inspecting). Two of these four 
steps we have now discussed. 







28 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


The preceding chart will show briefly how we 
have taken each step. 

Two steps yet remain—starting the job, and 
doing it. 


Starting the Job 

Every foreman has had trouble in doing the 
right jobs at the right time. When this is 
done, everything usually runs smoothly; but 
when the jobs get off to a bad start, the whole 
shop may feel the effect. The shop gets be¬ 
hind on work; the floor is full of work; some 
men are working overtime, while others are 
looking for jobs. In the selection of the proper 
time to do any piece of work is involved much 
more than the one job. Each job must fit into 
the manufacturing program of the shop, and 
must be adapted to conditions peculiar to the 
shop at that time. 

The sixth manual, “The Flow of Work,” ex¬ 
plains the steps necessary to be taken by the 
company in order that jobs may start at the 
right time. Since two steps in the flow of 
work, namely Scheduling and Dispatching, 
have much to do with this matter of releasing 
jobs to workmen at the right time, they will 
be gone into a little more in detail at this 
place. 



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30 


MODERN FOREMAN SHIP 


Scheduling 

By scheduling we refer to the setting of de¬ 
livery dates for the finished job, and for each 
part that goes to make up the article. A 
schedule usually works back, in point of time, 
from the date the finished article is desired. 
It sets delivery dates for each shop for each 
part. Scheduling is usually done for the fore¬ 
man by someone outside of his shop, who 
sends the foreman the delivery dates as de¬ 
termined from the schedule. 

Dispatching 

«# 

While someone outside the shop, but in close 
touch with it, usually sets the schedule, the 
foreman is responsible for the dispatching. 

Dispatching is the selection of the best time, 
man, and machine to perform each operation 
on each job, in order to meet the delivery 
dates set by the schedule. 

Here are some of the points to be considered 
by the dispatcher: 

1. Consider the shop as a whole. 

2. Know the delivery dates for each job. 

3. Know which jobs are most needed. 



GETTING THE WORK OUT 


31 


4. Know how long it will take the shop to 
perform each operation on each job. 

5. Know what quantity of work it is best to 
process as a unit. This governs the size 
of the lot or batch. A good scheme some¬ 
times is to make a batch equal the output 
of one man for a day, on the slowest op¬ 
eration. 

6. Know the set-up time and cost. Don’t 
spend $10 to get a machine ready for $5 
worth of production cost. 

7. Know the men’s abilities and capacities— 
what each man can and will do. 

8. Know the machines—what work can best 
be done on one, what on another. 

9. Keep the floor clean. Know where all work 
is located. 

10. Know just how much of each job has been 
completed to date,—what operations are 
yet to be performed on each. Here a route 
sheet, dispatch boards, control boards, or 
similar devices are of great service. 

11. Lay out a definite program or shop sched¬ 
ule covering the processing of this and 
every other job in the shop. This is the 



32 


MODERN FOREMAN SHIP 


main use of control boards (often called 
by other names). 

12. Release jobs to workmen as the shop 
schedule has outlined. 

13. When you can’t meet a promised delivery 
date, at once notify every one interested. 


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Fig. 11.—A time ticket for every man working on a job is another essen¬ 
tial to getting the work out. It is made out on a form similar to the one 
above. This one shows other information than the time, but that is no 
objection; in fact, it is a distinct advantage. 


14. Reschedule the job, if it has been held up, 
as soon as possible. 

15. See that finished work is properly dis¬ 
posed of at once. Don’t let it become hid¬ 
den under benches or otherwise lost, but 
see that it gets to its proper destination. 

This list of the factors governing dispatching 
is not complete. Some shops may easily have 





































CSClClL^J 



Fig. 12.—This rough sketch shows the construction as well as the purpose of one type of control board. While there are a great many 
other types, this one may be regarded as typical. Not only does it show what jobs are going thru the shop, but it also reflects, as 
would a mirror, exactly where the work on each and every job stands at any time. It is the foreman’s vantage point or conning tower 
from which he can not only watch the jobs going thru, but also rearrange his plans or reorganize his forces to meet any emergencies 

that may arise. 

























































































34 


MODERN FOREMAN SHIP 


other problems not mentioned here. A serv¬ 
ice shop, such as a heat-treating shop, a re¬ 
pair shop, or a buffing shop, may have a very 
simple schedule—nothing in longer than three 
days, as is the case in some shops. Others may 
have very elaborate schedules and dispatch¬ 
ing done from control boards. 

The scheduling and dispatching system varies 
with the work of the shop, but the purpose is 
the same in all, to tell when a job should be 
started. 

So far, only the preliminary work has been 
discussed. This because it naturally precedes 
the doing, and because, for example, it is as 
much a part of the making of a casting as is 
the actual preparation of the mold or the 
pouring of the metal. Good planning, prep¬ 
aration, scheduling, and dispatching are es¬ 
sential preliminaries to getting out work. 

The dispatcher has actually started the job 
by releasing it to the worker. Now comes the 
doing of the work by the workman. 

The Actual Doing of the Job 

Suppose now that we stop a moment to get 
just the right point of view here. The pre¬ 
liminary work has been done, the foreman 





Fig. 13.—A TYPICAL DISPATCH BOARD 






















































































































































































































































































36 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


has turned the job over to the workman, 
and the latter has actually begun work on it. 

Why doesn’t the foreman’s duty end here? 
Why is it necessary for him to be very much 
on the job even after he has turned the work 
over to somebody else to do ? 

It is necessary for him to be on the job be¬ 
cause even the best laid plans have a tendency 
to go wrong. The foreman’s “eagle eye” is 
ever on the watch, and at the first hint that 
anything is running askew, he locates the 
trouble and gets the job to running smoothly 
again. 

Any trouble that may arise to stop or slow up 
production is known as an “interference,” and 
probably the biggest function that the fore¬ 
man fulfills after the job is started is the re¬ 
moval of these interferences. 

Foreman Removes Interferences 

Right here the phrase “removing interfer¬ 
ences” probably needs a little more expla¬ 
nation. For, in their effect on the outcome of 
the job, there are two ways to remove inter¬ 
ference. 

One way is the more leisurely one. When the 
trouble appears, it is overcome as quickly as 



37 


GETTING THE WORK OUT 


possible, the loss of time entailed is accepted 
as a matter of course, and the job is finally 
delivered a few hours or days behind sched¬ 
ule. 

But there is another way in which interfer¬ 
ence may be removed. This way goes on the 
theory that you have not really removed the 
interference until you have caught up with 
the time you lost owing to the trouble. The 
mail train that has got to get to a certain des¬ 
tination by a certain time, may have trouble 
that holds it up for a few hours. When the 
trouble is fixed up, the “interference” is not yet 
removed. That lost time must be made up. 

This is considered efficient practice, namely, 
to attempt to put each job thru as planned 
and scheduled. 

A great many foremen very rightly go to a 
little additional expense on a job that is be¬ 
hind time to make sure that their previously 
set schedule does not fall down at some im¬ 
portant machine or on some important piece 
of work. For example, in a furniture factory, 
the planer broke down. A large order of desk 
tops fell behind. Thru overtime the work was 
gotten out; the assembly took place at the 
scheduled time; and the delivery date to a big 




MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


38 ' 


customer was met. Of course, a decision of 
this kind is a matter requiring judgment. So 
after the work has been planned and sched¬ 
uled, the foreman’s job becomes that of re¬ 
moving interferences — of seeing that no in¬ 
terruptions occur in the flow of work. 

Steps to Take to Get Out Work 

Work once started must be gotten out. The 
trained production man has a definite scheme 
to see that it is gotten out. Here are the three 
steps of this scheme: 

Step 1. Know your trouble. 

Step 2. Get the job going again. 

Step 3. Eliminate causes of trouble. 

Each step will now be discussed in turn. Later 
these steps will be shown in more detail. 

Step One—How to Know Your Trouble at Once 

It will be worth while to repeat here that 
“trouble is not so much what happens to a 
machine or a tool or the power transmission, 
as it is what happens to the job.” 

For instance, suppose a certain machine 
breaks down. Now, if you have another ma¬ 
chine all ready to take the place of the injured 



GETTING THE WORK OUT 


39 


one, very little trouble is happening to the 
job, but if you don’t have another machine, 
then the job you are putting thru is in trouble, 
and you’ll want to know just what kind of 
trouble it is in. 



Pig. 14.—Always look trouble squarely in the eye and start fighting it the 
instant it pops up. Getting the “drop” on it by mapping out your line 
of attack in advance is OHe of the surest ways of winning out against it. 
That is what this chart is meant to do for you. 

• Figure 14 shows how you go about it to know 
at once the kind of trouble that is happening 
to your job. It shows that trouble on a job 
may be of two kinds: 

1. Plans not followed 

2. Schedule not followed 




























40 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


How to Know of Troubles with Plans 

Trouble comes when plans are not followed. 
Work is done wrong, for any one of a hun¬ 
dred reasons. Often the damage is done be¬ 
fore the foreman learns of it. Only too often 
work scrapped at the first operation in the 
shop is not found until the work is about to 
leave the shop, and frequently not until after¬ 
wards. There is seldom a real excuse for this. 

How Inspection May Aid the Foreman 

The foreman wants to know immediately of 
any work not being done according to plans. 
There are two ways to get this information: 

1. To inspect the work as it comes off the ma¬ 
chines. 

2. To inspect after each operation where scrap 
is likely to occur. 

This means that inspection may be a real aid 
to production, not a mere check on work done 
some time before. 

Inspect Work While the Machine Is Running 

It pays to inspect the first few parts coming 
from any machine after a new set-up or after 
adjusting. This prevents any appreciable 



GETTING THE WORK OUT 


41 


scrap being made due to any error on the part 
of the adjuster. 

Foremen find that a periodic check of the 
same kind on the output is also of great 
assistance in preventing spoiled work. This 
can be applied to a wide range of processes. 
It can be done by providing the operator with 
the necessary gauges or other apparatus, so 
that he can tell at once when bad work is be¬ 
ing done. Another method is to leave this 
duty to the inspector with the understanding 
that he will at once notify the foreman of any 
poor work. This latter method is not so sat¬ 
isfactory if the inspector is not responsible 
directly to the foreman. 

Inspect after Certain Operations 

In many shops work is inspected after each 
operation where scrap is likely to occur. This 
frequently is done in shops which also inspect 
work as it is turned out at the machines. Such 
inspection prevents any further work’s being 
performed on spoiled pieces. 

The Two Types of Inspection 

There are two types of inspection which can 
be used: 

1. 100 per cent (inspecting every piece). 



42 


MODERN FOREMAN SHIP 


2. Samples (inspecting a few as representa¬ 
tive of the rest). 

Which type to use depends entirely on condi¬ 
tions. The general rule is to use the 100 per 
cent in cases where each part affects an en¬ 
tire assembly and where an operation is sub¬ 
ject to serious errors. In cases where these 
conditions are not met, where one or a few 
parts are probably representative of all, and 
where the flow of work requires quick inspec¬ 
tion, the sampling method is much the better. 

Unnecessary Inspections 

Inspection is just like anything else, it is a 
fine thing if not carried to extremes. Unnec¬ 
essary inspections should be eliminated. Many 
operations require no inspection whatever. 
The inspection of work after a given opera¬ 
tion may cover also the work of several pre¬ 
ceding operations. The general rule is to in¬ 
spect as long as such inspection more than 
pays for itself. When the cost of inspection 
approaches too near to the saving effected, 
viewed in the broad sense, it is time to call a 
halt on the inspection. 

Good Inspection Standards 

It also pays to watch your inspection stand¬ 
ards. Inspection that is too lax allows defec- 



GETTING THE WORK OUT 


43 


tive work to pass that causes trouble later. 
But too rigid inspection is equally bad, be¬ 
cause it requires too high a grade of work¬ 
manship, slows up production, and scraps per¬ 
fectly good work. Don’t machine down to .001 
if .005 is just as good. Don’t attempt a high 
finish on work that doesn’t require it. To be 
too fussy is just as inefficient as to be too 
easy. 

We have seen that inspection is perhaps the 
foreman’s best method of knowing whether 
the plans are being followed, so that trouble 
may be prevented along that line. The next 
question is: Is the schedule being followed? 

How to Know of Trouble with Schedules 

The experienced foreman knows that there is 
no use in trying to get a job thru on time if 
he does not learn of the delay until too late, 
perhaps not until the job, delayed as it was, 
is out of his shop. So the foreman makes sure 
that he knows what is being worked on by his 
men. 

This he can do either thru records of the 
progress of the work or by being out in the 
shop. Which is the better way depends on the 
foreman, his system of records, and the na¬ 
ture and size of the job. 




44 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


Where short rush jobs are common, the fore¬ 
man must be out on the floor most of the time. 
In any type of work a successful foreman 
spends a big part of his day out on the job, 
where he can see what his men and machines 
are doing and what progress his work is mak¬ 
ing. Besides the first-hand knowledge of the 
situation, there is that equally important fac¬ 
tor—the stimulus to the men, the knowledge 
that the boss knows what each man is doing. 

Where a shop is working on long jobs, which 
take months perhaps to complete, office rec¬ 
ords of the meeting of schedules are impor¬ 
tant for getting out work. But this is not a 
part of getting out the work actually on the 
floor. The shop schedule should be so laid as 
to take care of this situation. This is merely 
another illustration of the importance of 
scheduling to a production man. 

The Need of System 

Process inspection and the records of the 
progress of work are invaluable guides to the 
places where wastes and interferences are oc¬ 
curring. Neither the inspection nor the rec¬ 
ords of work can be carried along in a hap¬ 
hazard manner. The inspection should be sys¬ 
tematic and the records of work full and com- 



GETTING THE WORK OUT 


45 


plete. Both should give hot-off-the-bat infor¬ 
mation. 

Step Two—How to Get the Job Going Again 

Once trouble is called to the foreman’s atten¬ 
tion, he should make every effort to see that 
the work is delayed as little as possible. His 
procedure may be shown graphically as in 
Fig. 15. 



Fig. IS.—After trouble ha# snarled up the work and it looks as if the 
schedule is going to pieces, the thing to do is to get the job going again 
somehow. It’s up to you to discover the way. Whatever else you may 
hare to do, the three steps above mentioned are imperative. 


Finding the Immediate Cause 

% 

The immediate cause is all that concerns the 
foreman who has work held up. When a hold¬ 
up occurs, the question to ask yourself is, 
“Why did this interference happen at this 
time?” Never mind classifying the accident 
as due to any general cause or condition. 
Don’t waste time in argument or useless ef¬ 
fort to fix the blame. Find out just enough so 
that you can go ahead. 











46 


MODERN FOREMAN SHIP 


Here is the way one old foreman finds out 
why a machine is stopped. First he tries the 
power—no trouble there. Then he starts at 
the tool point, and goes first back thru the 
work, thru the holder, and thru the mechan¬ 
ism that controls the movements of the work. 
If the trouble is not here, he goes back to the 

TheTool Point 



Fig. 16.—Generally the tool point is the index to the speedy location of 
production troubles. Don’t merely look for trouble but start where the( 
trouble shows up, in this case at the tool point, and work along definite 
lines either back thru the tool or into the work. 

place that the trouble shows up, and exam¬ 
ines the tool, the tool holder, and the mechan¬ 
ism controlling its action—and finds the trou¬ 
ble. 

\ 

This method of finding the immediate cause 
of the trouble by starting at the point of the 
trouble and working back each way—into the 
tool and equipment and into the work being 
processed—until the cause is found, need not 








GETTING THE WORK OUT 


47 


be confined to metal working machines, or in 
fact, to machines of any kind. It is applicable 
to almost any kind of work. 

Deciding Upon the Remedy 

In this second step that we are now studying 
—getting the job going again—we have made 
our first move by finding the immediate cause 
of the hold-up. We have next to decide upon 
the best thing to do in the emergency. The 
immediate future should have more weight 
than a permanent solution of the difficulty. If 
a gear is broken, put in another one and get 
the job going. Don’t worry if you have to use 
an old, worn gear provided it does the work 
for the time being. You can order a new one 
and put it in later without holding up produc¬ 
tion. Foremen who are onto the tricks of the 
trade know any number of expedients that 
will get the work going. Here is where a fore¬ 
man’s resourcefulness has full play. 

Seeing That the Remedy Is Applied 

Knowing the trouble and the remedy is not 
sufficient. The foreman must see that the 
remedy is applied and works—that the results 
are obtained. This means that the foreman 
must follow up on all interferences and see 
that they are dealt with. He must put his 




48 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


personal drive and leadership into this. 
Things get held up when the persistent urge 
of the production man is missing. All the 
qualities of leadership are called into play. 
Experience, resourcefulness, inventiveness, 
all are essentials in this follow-up. “Get it 
done” sums up the whole story. It is the 
“man” in foreman that gets the results. 

Step Three—How to Eliminate Causes of Trouble 

Elimination of the deeper causes of trouble 
comes after the interference is disposed of. 
There is no time for it before. This does not 
mean that the successful foreman does not 
later do this. It’s a necessary part of his job. 

When a milling machine breaks down, the im¬ 
mediate cause may be a broken gear. The 
foreman finds this and gets it replaced. But 
the incident is not closed. Next comes the 
question, “Why did the gear break? Was it 
the steel, or the heat treatment? Or was it 
some piece of stock that somehow got into the 
mechanism? Was the operator a green man 
on the job? Was it negligence?” A hundred 
other questions may be asked. Once the real 
reasons are found, the foreman can plan how 
to eliminate those causes of trouble as far as 
possible, perhaps entirely. 


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TROUBLE ANALYSIS CHART 

Fig. 17.—When trouble occurs (and it’s bound to, even in the best regu¬ 
lated factories) iron it out and get back on schedule the quickest way you 
can. Remember, however, that if you want to manage your job instead of 
having the job manage you, you must run the trouble down and place the 
responsibility exactly where it belongs, otherwise you lose control. You 
won't miss fire if you use a chart like this. 

























































50 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


Planning, getting ready, scheduling, dispatch¬ 
ing, process inspection, and progress records 
are the outgrowth of this sort of study on the 
part of thousands of shop men. Each elim¬ 
inates some interference with the smooth flow 
of work that would otherwise be in evidence. 
The justification for their use is that they 
work. More and better work is done more 
economically when these broad principles are 
followed than when they are not practised. 

The Use of Routine Methods 

It will be well here to discuss the advantage 
of reducing as much of the shop work as pos¬ 
sible to routine. For one thing, there is less 
chance of error, less confusion, when a cer¬ 
tain matter is always handled in the same 
routine manner. But a greater advantage is 
that the handling of this work can be turned 
over in large part to assistants, thus leaving 
the foreman free to deal with the more im¬ 
portant problems of his job and with those in¬ 
terferences that cannot be handled as a mat¬ 
ter of routine. When a foreman always is 
saying, “I never have time to think out how to 
improve my shop,” it is very likely that he is 
trying to do everything himself and is not re¬ 
lying upon his assistants to take care of the 
less important work. 



GETTING THE WORK OUT 


51 


The Importance of Records 

Another matter of first importance to fore¬ 
men is the proper use of shop records. There 
are many kinds of shop records, but here only 
production records will be discussed. The four 
main elements of production records are 
shown in Fig. 18. 



Fig. 18.—The kind of shop records you use to assist you in getting out the 
work makes little or no difference so long as they include exact information 

about these four factors. 


Any production record can be classed as above. 
Some records deal with only one element. 
Many tie all four together. Many foremen 
have found that it aids them in thinking, to 
classify the information shown on a record 
according to these four elements. For in¬ 
stance, 

A blue print plan deals only with the work. 

A plan of work (as usually used) deals with 
the work, machines, and equipment. 

Material tickets deal as a rule with both work 
and time (and perhaps machines or the men). 

Work tickets deal with all four elements. 










52 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


Progress Records 

When the information of work tickets and 
material tickets is summarized and kept up- 
to-date so as to show the present standing of 
the shop on all jobs, we have what may be 
termed “progress records.” 

Some plants use several records, while others 
put all the information on one summary. 
These progress records are referred to by dif¬ 
ferent names in different factories and indus¬ 
tries. They may be termed control boards, 
dispatch boards, planning boards, route 
sheets—any variety of names. Always their 
purpose is to picture all four elements of the 
work in as concise and practical a method as 
possible. 

A second purpose of these boards, etc., more 
important even than the record of the past 
and present study of the shop, is to serve as 
a convenient basis for laying out future 
schedules of work. The past cannot be helped, 
except in so far as the future will permit. 

Very often control boards as such are not the 
best means of showing the situation. But 
some summarized record of work, men, ma¬ 
chines, and time, is kept by every experienced 
foreman. 




GETTING THE WORK OUT 


53 


On page 54 are shown three outlines giving 
the fundamentals on which all progress rec¬ 
ords are built, that may be of assistance in 
fixing in your mind the general nature of this 
type of record. Note that in each of these 
charts men, machines, and work are matched 
against the element of time. 

The value of any shop record is entirely up to 
the foreman. He has it in his power to make 
useful, dependable records, or to permit the 
making of slip-shod, misleading papers. The 
use of any except reliable records recalls the 
following incident: 

The general foreman of a big machine shop 
manufacturing industrial trucks had a rush or¬ 
der of 100 of a certain model. By his records 
he had 147 of a certain small part necessary for 
assembly. Actually he had but 47. Results: 
held-up work and an angry customer. 

The foreman who really uses records as an 
aid in his work is the man who sees to it that 
only carefully chosen and equally carefully 
kept records are made. 

Why Does Every Shop Have a Foreman? 

Years ago, an Arizona Indian was having a 
wonderful time examining the first automobile 
he had ever seen. The owner, noting his curi- 



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THREE WAYS OF FIGURING THE 
PROGRESS OF WORK 

There are three possible ways of figuring progress— 
the progress of the work, the progress of the ma¬ 
chines, and the progress of the men. Usually a prog¬ 
ress record shows only the one factor which is the 
most important for a shop to keep track of. 

The charts here shown illustrate how the progress 
of each of these factors (work, machines, and men) 
can be shown on one chart. 

Chart No. 1 is the type of progress record to be 
used where it is necessary to show how the work is 
progressing. For example, suppose you are on job 
No. 138, making 20 milling machine cutters, style 
“A.” Your progress record shows that on Monday 
it was turned down in the lathe section, on Tuesday 
and Wednesday the teeth were being milled in the 
milling section and so on. 

Chart No. 2 is used in a shop where the machines 
are at a premium. For example, suppose that in 
this progress record Grinder No. 3 is listed. The 
record shows that on Monday this machine worked 
on job No. 133; on Tuesday, on job No. 135; on 
Wednesday on job No. 139, and so on. 

Chart No. 3 is used where it is most important to 
keep track of the progress of the men. Their prog¬ 
ress is listed by the jobs handled, as in the case of 
the machine record. Any control board or other 
progress record you use will be found to be based 
«on one or more of these charts. 






56 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


osity, explained the mechanism to him at great 
length. The man was very much interested and 
seemed to understand everything thoroly as 
it was being explained to him. But as he was 
leaving, he said, “There’s only one thing I don’t 
see. What makes it go ?” 

And the same question may be asked of the 
shop and of the getting out of work. 

You can’t get away from the personal factor 
in any line of industry. The production qual¬ 
ities of the foreman himself are the forces 
that are behind getting the work out. They 
are efficient only when they work in harmony 
with the principles shown in the manual, just 
as the electric spark and the gasoline are 
most efficient when combined in the right 
manner, at the right time, in the right place. 
The FOREMAN puts the spark of life into 
his industrial machine—his shop. 

Qualities of a Good Production Man 

It will be well worth while to note the marked 
characteristic that stands out in a good pro¬ 
duction man. It is discussed in the first man¬ 
ual, but is here repeated in a slightly changed 
form, to emphasize its importance and for the 
sake of rendering this manual complete in it¬ 
self. This characterictic of the successful 
foreman is typical of every leader of men. 





GETTING THE WORK OUT 


57 


Inward Drive 

Inward drive and force is the foremost req¬ 
uisite. One man gives an order, and it fails 
to go across; while another man gives the 
same directions, and the work is as good as 
done before it is started. It’s the man with 
the punch who gets the results. This inner 
force is based on courage, determination, en¬ 
ergy, self-confidence, purpose, a desire for 
tangible results, and the ability to inspire 
others. When such a man comes into any shop 
—into any organization—his presence is felt 
in some indefinable way. He usually does not 
do a great deal of loud talking, but he always 
must be reckoned with. He is always getting 
something done, never merely talking about 
doing it. 

All production men have this quality to a high 
degree. If space permitted, the other qualities 
of the leader and executive would be dis¬ 
cussed in detail. It will be well to review the 
first manual, “The Foreman and His Job,” and 
the third manual, “Leadership,” in this con¬ 
nection. The qualities there discussed are es¬ 
sential to the foreman in getting the work 
out. 



58 


MODERN FOREMANSHIP 


A Word in Conclusion 

This entire series of foremanship manuals 
may be likened to a tool—designed not to be 
looked at and enjoyed, but to be used. 

But in a tool, different parts have different 
functions. A portable power tool, for instance, 
may be composed of motor, housing, trans¬ 
mission, and cutting tools. In this series the 
present manual is the cutting tool. It has been 
prepared entirely with the idea that you are 
to find real use for it in your regular day’s 
work. 

To make this use all the handier to you, we 
have prepared a chart covering the whole 
manual and enabling you at a glance to look 
over the entire field of “getting the work out,” 
and so to check up on your own work. The . 
chart appears directly opposite. Analyze it 
closely, because it summarizes all the impor¬ 
tant steps outlined in this manual. 

Refer to it frequently, not only as a guide to 
retrace these steps and to fix them firmly in 
your mind, but also to get a bird’s-eye view of 
all the problems which you must face every 
time you put an important job into work. 
Nothing you do means more in your favor if 



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GETTING THE WORK OUT 


59 


you succeed, nor will anything stand against 
you as a blacker mark if you fail, than the 
way you get out the work. This chart is a 
direct approach to a successful way to meet 
this big problem. 

In summing up the contents of this manual, 
we find that three facts stand out as of prime 
importance in getting out work. 

1. A definite program must be mapped out 
and prepared for. 

2. That program must be followed in spite of 
any obstacles. 

3. In putting that program thru, the whole 
responsibility is placed on you, the fore¬ 
man. It is you that put the spark of life 
into your shop. 

This is the way to get out work. 

The next manual — the ninth — deals with 
stockkeeping, the care of materials of all 
kinds, raw materials, work on the floor, partly 
finished stores, and finished stores. It treats 
also of the care and maintenance of tools, 
equipment, and supplies. It gives only the best 
modern practice and is well worth the close 
and careful attention of every foreman. 






































* 















